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September 18, 2009

G146: Red Sox 3, Orioles 1

The sixth spot in the order scored all three runs tonight as Buchholz went six innings (6-5-1-3-1, 95). The Red Sox have a 6.5-game lead in the wild card and a Yankees loss would bring Boston to within six in the East. (The Joy of Six?)

Casey Kotchman went 3-for-4, singling in Jason Bay with the first Boston run. After the Orioles tied the game on a Luke Scott dong, Bay went deep to start the fourth. Josh Reddick replaced Bay in left in the fifth. He singled to start the sixth and scored on Jacoby Ellsbury's single.

LBJ had two opposite field hits and stolen base #62. Victor Martinez also had two hits. ... The bullpen trio of Daniel Bard, Hideki Ojakima and Jonathan Papelbon put up a 3-0-0-1-3 line. The one baserunner was a one-out walk by Bard, who then struck out the next two hitters.

Ichiro Suzuki hit a two-run home run off Mariano Rivera with two outs in the bottom of the ninth -- his fourth hit of the night -- to give the Mariners a 3-2 win over the Yankees. The Angels shut out the Rangers 2-0. Boston is 6 GB in the East and 7 GA in the WC.

The Red Sox -- 52-22 at home but only 34-37 away from Fenway -- hit the road for their final trip of the season: three in Baltimore, four in Kansas City, and three in New York. (After that, it's back home for three against Toronto and four against Cleveland. Then it's playoff time!)

Boston starters have allowed three runs or fewer in 10 consecutive games -- 1.79 ERA in 65.1 innings. ... Victor Martinez has a 16-game hitting streak (.357, 20-for-56) and Jacoby Ellsbury has hit in nine of his last ten games (.400, 14-for-35_.

Guthrie leads the AL in losses (14) earned runs allowed (97) and home runs allowed (30). However, he has allowed only one dong in his last four starts and only four in eight starts since July 31. ... Joey Gathright is 4-for-4 against Guthrie and Jason Bay is 5-for-10 (more; and here are the Birds vs Laptop).

64 comments:

1977: Boston's Ted Cox goes 4-for-4 in his major league debut. He will get two hits in his first two times up the next day against the Yankees, setting a record for six straight hits at the start of a career.

1993 - Trailing by two runs to the Red Sox with two outs in the bottom of ninth, Mike Stanley hits a fly to left for the final out of a Boston win, but time had been called right before the pitch was delivered due to a fan running out onto the Yankee Stadium field. Given a second chance, Stanley singles, Wade Boggs singles, Dion James walks, and Don Mattingly singles, giving the MFY an improbable 4-3 win. (I was at this game and had moved down behind the third base dugout for the final inning. The fan ran down past my aisle seat on his way onto the field. I should have tripped him.)

Mark Feinsand of the Daily News thinks Mo's blown save could be a "good thing"

Then he talks about a lot of Yankee people getting antsy about the division.

Which is more absurd from an objective standpoint? The Red Sox coming all the way back from 6 GB with 16 remaining or thinking Mariano Rivera giving up a two-run dong to Ichiro when the M's were down to their last out... a GOOD thing?